Pakistani military vows to continue actions against alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan

July 6, 2026 Current News Articles

Waseem Abbasi

Arab News

July 06, 2026

Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), HJ, Chief of Army Staff & Chief of Defence Forces, presided over the 276th Corps Commanders’ Conference (CCC) at General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on July 6, 2026. (ISPR)

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military on Monday vowed to continue intelligence-based operations against alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan, expressing concerns over alleged use of Afghan territory by militant groups for attacks inside Pakistan.

Islamabad has frequently accused India of backing militant groups and Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil for attacks in Pakistan’s western regions that border Afghanistan. New Delhi and Kabul deny this.

Pakistan’s top army brass on Monday held a meeting, presided over by Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, to review the prevailing security environment in the country, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.

The forum affirmed that lasting peace and stability in the region is contingent upon “preventing use of Afghan Taliban controlled territory by Indian terrorist proxies for which Afghan Taliban regime is directly responsible.”

“Pakistan has unequivocal right to defend its people from terrorism and the Armed Forces shall continue Intelligence Based Operations against terrorism emanating from Afghan Taliban controlled territory,” the ISPR said.

There was no immediate response from New Delhi and Kabul to the statement, which came a week after Islamabad conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s border regions.

Pakistan’s information minister said the strikes killed over 20 militants, some of whom belonged to a Pakistani Taliban faction that claimed an earlier attack in Karachi, killing three Pakistani paramilitary troops. Giving a higher death toll, Kabul said the strikes killed Afghan civilians.

Both countries have been locked in a conflict since Feb., when Afghanistan launched cross-border artillery strikes into Pakistan in retaliation for earlier Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas that Islamabad said targeted alleged militant camps.

The fighting in Feb. upended a Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October that halted earlier clashes between the two sides, which had killed dozens of civilians, security forces and militants.

Regional mediators, including China, Russia, Qatar and Turkiye, have previously attempted to facilitate negotiations between Islamabad and Kabul, but cross-border clashes have continued though at a lower intensity.

EU Warns of Worsening Maternal Health Crisis in Afghanistan

July 3, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

July 3, 2026

Afghanistan’s maternal health crisis is worsening as restrictions on women’s education and limited access to health care put mothers and newborns at greater risk, the European Union’s humanitarian aid office said on Friday.

In a post on the social media platform X, the EU office responsible for humanitarian operations in Asia and the Pacific said Afghanistan continues to face a severe maternal health crisis. It warned that barriers to women’s education and restricted access to health services are further undermining the health of mothers and newborns.

The office, part of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, known as ECHO, said it continues to support the delivery of maternal and newborn health services across the country through its humanitarian programs. It did not give details on the scale of that assistance.

Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates, according to the World Health Organization and United Nations agencies. Humanitarian groups have repeatedly warned that years of conflict, economic hardship, a shortage of health workers, and limited access to medical care have left pregnant women and newborns at heightened risk.

The situation has grown more difficult since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. The Taliban administration has imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls, including bans on secondary and higher education for girls, limits on women’s employment across many sectors, and measures affecting their participation in public life.

In December 2024, the Taliban’s supreme leader ordered women barred from studying nursing and midwifery, closing one of the last remaining paths to higher education for women. Aid agencies say the measure, which UN monitors report is still in force, has cut off the training pipeline for future female health workers, deepening a shortage that is especially serious because many Afghan women are typically treated only by female staff.

The World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, and other organizations have called for greater investment in maternal health. They have warned that continued funding shortfalls, together with restrictions on women working in the sector, could increase preventable maternal and newborn deaths, and that fewer female providers make women less likely to seek care.

At the same time, the de facto authorities have generally continued to allow female midwives and doctors to treat women, and UN agencies have been permitted to run women-for-women maternal services. Aid groups say those services remain constrained by funding shortages and by wider restrictions on women’s movement and education.

The warning comes as Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. The United Nations has estimated that around 21.9 million people, close to half the population, will need humanitarian assistance in 2026. Aid officials say the strain has been compounded by the return of large numbers of Afghans from Iran and Pakistan, which has added pressure on already stretched health services.

The EU is among the largest donors of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and says it channels its assistance through partner organizations, including UN agencies and non-governmental groups. It has not detailed how much of that funding is directed specifically to maternal and newborn care.

The EU humanitarian office said it remains committed to supporting health services in Afghanistan and called for continued assistance to protect vulnerable mothers and children.

US Backs Pakistan’s Right to Self-Defense After Deadly Strikes in Afghanistan

July 3, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

July 3, 2026

The United States has reaffirmed its support for Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorism, days after cross-border airstrikes that the United Nations says killed at least 28 civilians in Afghanistan and amid rising tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul.

The US State Department said on Thursday that Washington “supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks,” according to Reuters. “The Pakistani people have suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists,” the department said.

The statement, as reported by Reuters, did not directly address the reported civilian casualties or comment on the specific strikes inside Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s military carried out the airstrikes on Sunday, June 28, in the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar. Islamabad said the operation targeted hideouts belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, groups it accuses of staging attacks on Pakistani soil. Pakistani officials said 25 members of the groups were killed, though some Pakistani accounts put the figure higher.

The United Nations gave a different account. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, said at least 28 civilians were killed and 49 others wounded in the strikes, with women and children among the casualties. It described the figures as preliminary and said they could rise. Taliban officials initially put the toll higher, at 36 killed, a figure the UN has not confirmed.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration of allowing TTP fighters to operate from Afghan territory and launch attacks across the border. The Taliban have rejected the allegations, saying Afghan soil is not used to threaten neighboring countries and that Pakistan is deflecting blame for its own security problems.

Days after the strikes, the Taliban said their forces had carried out attacks inside Pakistan, targeting what they described as centers used by Islamic State and other hostile groups in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan regions. Pakistan said it intercepted and shot down four drones over Balochistan.

The latest strikes were the second Pakistani cross-border air operation inside Afghanistan in June. UNAMA said an earlier round on June 11, in Khost, Kunar, and Paktika, killed 13 civilians, despite Pakistan’s assertion that it had hit militant positions.

Relations between Pakistan and the Kabul administration have deteriorated sharply over border security and militant violence, with both sides exchanging accusations over responsibility for cross-border attacks. The United States continues to designate the Afghan Taliban as a terrorist group and regards Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally, ties that shape Washington’s response to the escalation.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Monday for an immediate halt to the fighting and urged both sides to protect civilians and resolve their differences through diplomacy. Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Kabul to protest the strikes.

The US statement comes as concern grows over regional security and the humanitarian consequences of continued military operations along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Mujahid: Global Stance Biggest Obstacle to Recognition of Islamic Emirate

July 3, 2026 Current News Articles

Bibi Amina Hakimi

TOLOnews’ Reporter

3 July 2026

Despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations, contacts between Kabul and Washington have not been completely severed.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, told TOLOnews that the biggest obstacle to the international recognition of the current government is the position of countries around the world.

According to Mujahid, the government seeks positive and constructive relations with all countries, including those that previously had a military presence in Afghanistan.

Mujahid said: “We want good and positive relations with all countries of the world, even those that had a military presence in Afghanistan and were involved in the war. We want relations with them to become normal. The fact that they have not yet been prepared to normalize relations with Afghanistan is their own responsibility.”

Despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations, contacts between Kabul and Washington have not been completely severed.

The Islamic Emirate’s spokesperson said that communication with the United States continues, with some of these interactions taking place through Afghanistan’s embassy in Qatar.

He added: “From time to time, we have contacts with the United States. Sometimes these contacts are direct, and sometimes they take place through other countries. Afghanistan’s embassy in Qatar is also in contact with countries that do not have embassies in Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, a number of analysts say that expanding the Islamic Emirate’s engagement with regional and international countries, particularly the United States, is important for improving and strengthening political and diplomatic relations.

Najib-ur-Rahman Shamal, an international relations analyst, said: “Given Afghanistan’s current situation, the country needs to expand and deepen its relations with the international community, regional countries, and other nations around the world. The Afghan government also needs to make appropriate changes to its governing structure and its policy toward the international community in order to build international trust and create the conditions for expanding relations with other countries, including the United States.”

Since the Islamic Emirate returned to power in Afghanistan, it has maintained political, economic, and diplomatic relations with a number of countries. However, Russia remains the only country to have formally recognized the Islamic Emirate.

World Bank says Afghanistan’s economy increasingly dependent on Iran trade routes

July 2, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

June 30, 2026

Afghanistan has become increasingly dependent on Iran for trade, with 56% of its imports passing through the country, leaving its economy vulnerable to regional tensions and disruptions, the World Bank said in its latest Afghanistan Economic Monitor.

The report said Afghanistan’s economy grew by an estimated 4.8%, but warned the recovery has not improved living standards. Per-capita income continued to fall as rapid population growth, driven largely by the return of nearly 3.7 million Afghan migrants from Iran and Pakistan, outpaced economic expansion.

The World Bank also reported a 17% decline in exports in May compared with the previous month, while imports of machinery and other investment goods remained sharply lower, reflecting weak private-sector investment and continued financial constraints. It said India’s remained the largest export destination, while trade has increasingly shifted toward Iran after repeated disruptions at border crossings with Pakistan.

The report warned that Afghanistan remains heavily dependent on a narrow export base and external trade routes at a time when humanitarian needs remain severe. Aid reductions, high unemployment and limited access to international finance continue to weigh on the economy despite relative currency stability and steady domestic revenue collection.

Afghanistan is facing one of the region’s largest humanitarian crises, with millions of people requiring assistance after years of economic isolation, drought and conflict. The return of large numbers of deported Afghans from neighbouring countries has placed additional pressure on jobs, public services and already limited resources.

The World Bank said sustainable recovery will depend on expanding private-sector activity, improving access to finance, investing in infrastructure and creating employment opportunities, warning that current growth alone is insufficient to reverse worsening living conditions.

Afghanistan Among World’s Most Neglected Humanitarian Crises, NRC Says

July 2, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

July 1, 2026

Afghanistan is among the world’s most neglected humanitarian crises this year, with funding falling sharply despite rising needs driven by mass refugee returns and worsening economic hardship, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Wednesday.

In its annual report on neglected displacement crises, the NRC said Afghanistan appeared on the list for the first time, warning that the country is receiving far less humanitarian funding than required despite millions of people remaining dependent on emergency assistance.

Jan Egeland said the decline in humanitarian funding comes as 21.9 million people require assistance and millions of Afghans continue returning from neighboring countries. He urged donors to respond before “millions more are pushed into hunger and despair.”

The NRC said the sharp reduction in funding has been driven largely by the end of U.S. humanitarian support, leaving aid agencies struggling to maintain food assistance, healthcare, shelter and other essential services across Afghanistan.

The warning comes as Afghanistan faces mounting pressure from the large-scale return of Afghan migrants deported or repatriated from Iran and Pakistan. Aid agencies say the influx is stretching already limited resources and increasing demand for housing, healthcare, employment and humanitarian assistance.

The World Bank has also warned that the return of millions of Afghans has intensified economic pressures, contributing to declining per-capita income, rising unemployment and growing strain on public services. The bank says weak private investment and limited international financing continue to constrain Afghanistan’s recovery.

The United Nations has repeatedly described Afghanistan as one of the world’s largest humanitarian emergencies. U.N. agencies have warned that persistent funding shortages are forcing aid organizations to scale back life-saving programs at a time when poverty, food insecurity and climate-related challenges continue to affect millions across the country.

UN: Mines Kill or Injure 175 People in Afghanistan This Year

July 2, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

July 2, 2026

At least 175 people were killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan between January and May 2026, with children accounting for three-quarters of the casualties, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Thursday, warning of a severe funding shortfall for mine action programs.

In a post on X, OCHA said 75% of those killed or injured during the five-month period were children. The agency appealed for increased international support, saying that $14.5 million is needed to sustain mine clearance operations in Afghanistan this year, but only $3.6 million had been secured by June.

“Urgent support can prevent further casualties,” OCHA said, emphasizing that funding shortages are threatening life-saving demining activities across the country.

During a visit to eastern Afghanistan, Olga Cherevko said Afghanistan ranks as the world’s third most affected country in terms of casualties caused by unexploded ordnance. She said children account for around 80% of those casualties and that an average of 50 people are killed or injured every month by landmines and explosive remnants of war.

Cherevko said mine clearance and explosive ordnance risk education save lives by removing dangerous explosives, raising public awareness, and protecting communities. However, she warned that many programs are being scaled back or suspended because of critical funding shortages, despite the continuing threat.

“Every unexploded munition left in the ground puts another life at risk,” Cherevko said, describing the situation as unacceptable.

Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most heavily contaminated countries with landmines and explosive remnants of decades of conflict. Many hazardous areas are located near villages, farmland, schools, and roads, exposing civilians, particularly children, to daily risks. Humanitarian organizations say children are especially vulnerable because they often mistake unexploded ordnance for toys or scrap metal.

Figures released by Afghanistan’s National Disaster Preparedness Authority, operating under the Taliban administration, also underscore the scale of the problem. The agency recorded 225 mine- and unexploded ordnance-related incidents between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026, resulting in 474 casualties, including 96 deaths and 378 injuries.

According to the authority, 321 of the victims were children and 153 were adults, while 380 victims were male and 94 were female. The eastern province of Kunar recorded the highest number of incidents, followed by Farah, with Nangarhar, Herat, and Kandahar also among the provinces most affected.

Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that without additional donor funding, mine clearance operations and community risk education programs could be significantly reduced, increasing the danger to civilians and slowing efforts to make contaminated land safe for agriculture, housing, and public use.

Defense Ministry Says ISIS Sites Hit in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

July 2, 2026 Current News Articles

Mitra Majeedy

Journalist

Tolo News

1 July 2026

According to the ministry, the targeted sites had been used to plan destructive activities against Afghanistan and to launch attacks on civilians.

The Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Emirate announced that it carried out airstrikes overnight on ISIS positions in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The ministry said Tuesday evening’s airstrikes targeted the Saranan area in Balochistan, Qambar Khel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Garm Chashma area, inflicting heavy casualties and financial losses on ISIS militants and their supporters.

The deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said the strikes were not a response to Pakistan’s recent airstrikes but, according to him, were part of a “routine process,” adding that locations used to undermine Afghanistan’s security would continue to be targeted in the future.

Sediqullah Nusrat, deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, said: “These strikes were not specifically in response to the recent attacks, and it is possible that our operations will increase, because our defense forces target any location used to disrupt the country’s security.”

According to the ministry, the targeted sites had been used to plan destructive activities against Afghanistan and to launch attacks on civilians.

The Ministry of Defense added that the strikes were carried out with high precision and that no civilians were harmed.

Former Afghan Ambassador to France Omar Samad said: “This shows that the capability for defense and counterattacks has increased, and that Afghanistan’s intelligence authorities are now able to identify the locations of these individuals more accurately.”

The strikes came shortly after Pakistan’s air attacks on Sunday, which left more than 200 people dead and wounded.

Reacting to the developments, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Pakistan’s airstrikes as a tragic incident and called on Kabul and Islamabad to resolve their long-standing differences through diplomatic means.

According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry: “Russia calls on Islamabad and Kabul to end the armed conflict and resolve disputes through political and diplomatic means.”

Earlier, the UN Secretary-General also expressed concern over the latest escalation between Kabul and Islamabad and urged both sides to return to diplomacy and dialogue.

Mujahid: UNAMA Has Fallen Short of Its Mission Over the Past Five Years

July 2, 2026 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

2 July 2026

After Afghanistan fires drones into Pakistan, what’s next?

July 2, 2026 Current News Articles

By Abid Hussain

Al Jazeera

Pakistan and Afghanistan have been locked in an on-off cycle of cross-border strikes that has left their ties in tatters.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan’s military said on Wednesday it shot down four drones launched by the Afghan Taliban into Balochistan, hours after Afghanistan’s defence ministry claimed its air force had struck what it called ISIL (ISIS) “centres” in Balochistan’s Pishin district and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the drones were detected immediately after crossing the border and were neutralised through “sophisticated countermeasures”, describing the launch as part of the Afghan Taliban’s “patronisation and support of terrorist outfits”.

Kabul’s defence ministry said separately that its strikes targeted a centre in Pishin district, allegedly used to plan “subversive activities and attacks in Afghanistan”, adding that no civilians were harmed.

Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.

Earlier, on June 27, gunmen attacked a paramilitary compound in Karachi, killing three personnel. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility, and the suspect captured alive was identified as an Afghan national. Pakistan responded on June 29 with strikes in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces, claiming 25 fighters were killed. The Taliban government said 36 civilians died.

The drone strikes mark the latest in an escalating back-and-forth of military strikes between Afghan and Pakistani territory since October 2025.

The question is, will the drone strikes lead to a new escalation from Pakistan, or will the neighbours find a way to return to diplomacy to resolve their deepening tensions?

Escalation cycle

Behind those tensions are numbers that Pakistani officials say they cannot ignore. The Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) recorded 699 “terrorist” attacks across the country in 2025, a 34 percent increase from the previous year, with at least 1,034 people killed.

Meanwhile, the United States-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project has documented at least a dozen drone launches into Pakistani territory since February.

Still, Pakistani officials told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity that for now, they plan to pursue what they described as a strategy of controlled escalation: responding forcefully to armed attacks from non-state groups while being more selective about how to retaliate against the Afghan Taliban government strikes.

Pakistan declared “open war” on February 27 and launched Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq (Wrath for Justice) after Taliban forces attacked Pakistani border posts, themselves a response to earlier Pakistani strikes on armed rebel camps in eastern Afghanistan.

By March, a Pakistani strike on a rehabilitation centre near Kabul had killed more than 100 people, according to independent estimates. Taliban authorities called it a “crime against humanity”.

Last year, Qatari and Turkish mediation produced an October ceasefire that briefly held before follow-up talks in Istanbul collapsed twice.

Chinese-mediated talks in Urumqi in April this year led to a measurable drop in Pakistani air strikes, with Taliban officials reportedly prepared to offer written guarantees against the TTP. However, the lull lasted only about two months before tensions resurfaced in June.

“The latest escalation is a continuation of skirmishes that have been regularly observed over the past two years,” said Fahad Nabeel, head of the Islamabad-based consultancy Geopolitical Insights.

“Pakistani aerial strikes in Afghanistan have become reactionary in nature, without any notable change in the frequency of militant attacks. Afghan Taliban officials, for their part, have failed to take any notable action to ensure Afghanistan does not serve as a launching pad for attacks in Pakistan,” the analyst told Al Jazeera.

Ricardo Alvarez, a research analyst tracking armed rebellions across South and Central Asia, said the pattern has solidified over several years.

“What had started in 2022 as occasional incidents and retaliations has, since 2025, become a consolidated pattern,” Alvarez said. “That does not mean escalation might not still occur. We have already seen an escalation between October 2025 and March 2026 rounds of conflict. Tit-for-tat has become the norm, but there might still be a gradual escalation ahead, with more decisive attacks from each side.”

Other analysts dispute where responsibility lies. Rahim Nasari, a Quetta-based security analyst, argued that Islamabad’s domestic security failures are being obscured by the cross-border framing.

“Pakistan has turned this into a kind of new normal, blaming its own security failures on Afghanistan,” Nasari said. “Attackers travel more than 1,200km (750 miles) from the Afghan border to reach Karachi, planning and organising with facilitators inside Pakistan itself. That raises a basic question: whose intelligence failure is this, really?”

Nasari described the relationship between the two governments as one based on leverage rather than a dispute likely to be resolved soon.

“By striking inside Afghanistan, Pakistan manages several things at once: a controlled level of conflict, pressure on Kabul, and a way to divert attention from its own domestic security failures,” he told Al Jazeera. “At its core, this is a case of mutual blackmail. Kabul accuses Pakistan of sheltering anti-Taliban figures, and Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring the TTP.”

Alvarez argued that any durable shift would require steps neither government has shown willingness to take.

“Both sides have to address their internal issues without outsourcing the conflict to each other,” he said.

The Venice-based analyst said Pakistan must pair its military response with a long-term strategy addressing the conditions driving armed rebellion in its own provinces.

Without that, he warned, the current approach risks deepening the conflict rather than resolving it.

At the same time, he said, the Afghan Taliban must confront the reality that the “Pakistani Taliban maintain leadership, propaganda centres and hideouts for themselves and their families inside Afghanistan”.

“For both countries, addressing these issues carries strong internal repercussions,” Alvarez said. “And for now, neither side is willing to face those consequences.”

Escalation cycle

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